Monthly Archives: December 2008

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice that how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds." I came across this great quote recently (although I can't remember where, so apologies for not crediting the author). Mindfulness is a term that keeps popping up in discussions lately. We're busy [...]

As we've gathered stories in organisations, we've often come across stories that deal with corruption and bribery. I recently saw a communication from a large South African paper producing company with regards to gifts and hospitality. It outlines the following points: I would like to bring to your attention that the following is applicable to any gifts and hospitality offered to our employees: 1.Only gifts and hospitality of an advertising nature of a reasonable value on which the name [...]

The stories behind the world's most successful bands fascinate me. They seem to be stories that are littered withserendipity where just the right mixture of great opportunities, resourceful networking and enough of the "at the right place at the right time" stuff mixes into a concoction that results in global success. Take the Dave Matthews Band (DMB)­ as an example (they're my favourite band) - the planets just seemed to align in 1991 when they met. But, as I've delved into their story [...]

Leon from Occam's Donkey alerted me to an article that was published in a recentScientific American on the impact that the language leaders use when referring to terrorism has on the perception of the general population. For example, a metaphor of "law enforcement" triggers very different responses than a "war" metaphor. The article starts with the sentence "How we characterise an issue affects how we think about it". This is perfectly illustrated by typical responses to occupational safety incidents. Because people tend to [...]

The Narrative Lab is an organisational development and applied research consultancy that blends narrative practices, complexity thinking and facilitation to re:humanise the worlds of individuals, teams, organisations and communities.